Jeff Gluck’s mandatory race week poll saw the Food City 500 at Bristol receive a dominant 87 percent votes for it being a “good” race, and only a meager 13 percent of the viewers made their opinions felt when they clicked on ‘No’. A lot of this collective “sentiment” seems to stem from Denny Hamlin picking up another dominant victory for Toyota in a race that saw JGR drivers lead most laps, once, again, after Christopher Bell’s Phoenix victory.

The real problems persisted, however, with the new “resin” compound fixated on the lower groove of the racetrack which caused unnatural numbers of blowouts for the new Goodyears on display at the repaved concrete in Bristol. This did not mean that it was a boring race by any chance. The close combat encounters associated with the fabric of short track racing felt eerily similar to those that took place in the 90s and Dale Jr let his feelings align with Gluck on this very opinion, discrediting all claims of a ‘boring’ Bristol battle. 

Bristol struggles, whose fault it was?

For Denny Hamlin, the victory was indeed a resounding one. Following up on last September’s Night Race triumph, The #11 secured consecutive back-to-back P1 finishes at Bristol. Tire management was key, as well as veteran composure. Nevertheless, victory laps for Hamlin weren’t the only story, as many discredited the Bristol race ruing the “tire mystery,” as well as the fact that many drivers could not go “all out” to place themselves in a finish that only saw 5 cars on the lead lap in almost 30 years. Some even

The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck recently tweeted again, this time, calling out this obnoxious fan “sentiment” regarding the Bristol race being boring. Especially, since Hamlin beat everyone’s favorite driver. The journalist wrote, “I’ve seen this sentiment a lot today (that the poll was too low because Denny won). I really think the primary reason was people were angry about the tire situation and the drivers not being able to go all out. There were a lot of people saying they voted no for that reason.”

Gluck had echoed another fan sentiment as he quoted a previous tweet that had called for him to “just stop the polls at this point,” indicating the complex and confusing nature of interest levels. As he had claimed, “that race was incredible, and people who voted no are just mad that Denny won.” Dale Jr joined in on this Twitter chatter, empathizing with Gluck’s original tweet sharing, “Keep it going. I appreciate them each week.”

Dale Jr goes a step further

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Jeff Gluck’s polls have become an interesting topic of discussion in NASCAR’s recent timeline. A detailed reaction breakdown often follows the motorsports journalist’s polls. This week was no different, as Gluck revealed that Denny Hamlin’s 52nd career win received the second-most votes ever, after Daniel Suarez’s history-making Atlanta victory. Hamlin, on the other hand, only had problems with teammate Martin Truex Jr who was hot on his heels for the final laps of the race, and the new Goodyear compounds.

However, Dale Jr had other opinions on this matter. The Goodyear debacle took out prime contenders such as Bristol’s winningest Kyle Busch, and even pole-winner Ryan Blaney. Many tore down on the tire partners for this season, but Junior was sympathetic towards the manufacturing giants. He even tweeted earlier, congratulating the Ohio-based conglomerate on helping run a “fun to watch” spectacle.

As the battles unfolded, Junior made a comparison when he shared, “We will see who can balance pushing toward the front vs. killing their tires.” Unfortunately for some fans, Hamlin was the former, and as it stands, the Bristol race saw an 11% rise since last year’s Atlanta race that aired on the same weekend and over 10% on the discontinued Bristol Dirt race last spring.

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